The Broncos already have tried that. Don “Wink” Martindale is their fifth defensive coordinator in five years.

So if it’s not Martindale, and it wasn’t Mike Nolan, and it wasn’t Bob Slowik or Jim Bates or Larry Coyer, then what is it?

Why does the Denver defense continue to have such inconsistent performances within a season when it can manhandle the likes of the Titans’ Chris Johnson and the run-oriented New York Jets some weeks and get mauled other weeks by Ray Rice and Darren McFadden?

“There wasn’t one (reason), there were probably a bunch,” Broncos coach Josh McDaniels said after McFadden accounted for 165 of the — gulp! — 328 Oakland rushing yards Sunday. “There are a lot of things that have to go right and you have to do well in order to stop teams that are good running football teams.”

After blitzing the edge so effectively to stop Johnson, who rushed for 2,006 yards last year, in a 26-20 victory in Week 4, the Broncos may have missed the injured Robert Ayers and Brian Dawkins against the Raiders because most of McFadden’s success was to the outside.

First things first.

After scoring only seven points in the first quarter through their first six games, the Broncos concentrated last week on starting fast. Then they had their worst first quarter ever, falling behind 24-0. “We heard them talk all week about how they wanted to start fast,” Raiders defensive end Richard Seymour said. “We just understood the beast that we were playing.”

Quit the accusations.

After every blowout loss or season that goes south, there are accusations of certain players quitting. If the Broncos quit Sunday, Seymour didn’t detect it. “I never thought they quit,” he said. “They played hard. I wish someone would have quit because we could have had some more sacks.”

Roster move.

The Broncos waived linebacker Diyral Briggs on Monday. He had been promoted from the practice squad last week and played on special teams Sunday.

Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson had butterflies before Sunday's game against the Detroit Red Wings. It wasn't because of the big-name opponent, but rather his return from a 13-game injury absence and being stoked to rejoin a team in a playoff push and looking for its third postseason appearance in 10 years.